New Toronto streetcar route touted as solution to King car's congestion

A new streetcar is starting to roll down streets today, part of the city's efforts to battle one of the most congested routes in the downtown core.

The 514 Cherry Street route is meant to alleviate the strain on the King streetcar about 65,000 people ride the route on any given weekday, according to the Toronto Transit Commission's Brad Ross.

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He said it's the city's busiest surface route.

"It's going to be both a relief to people who ride during rush hour who often have to wait for a couple of streetcars before they can get on it's going to give just that many more options to people,"said Ross.

The route starts at the new Distillery District Loop on Cherry Street, and heads North to King Street where it overlaps with the current King route. It stretches west until the Dufferin Street loop near Liberty Village.

Mayor John Tory said the city is attempting to catch up to the pace of development, saying the city has challenges when it comes to helping people move around along King Street.

"We made a bit of a mistake I think as a city in doing a lot of development before we built the transit. But now we're making up for that,"he said.

Ross said the cars will run every eight minutes during the morning and afternoon rush hours, and then every 15 minutes when it's not as busy.